NICE release new guidelines on prescribing antibiotics for pneumonia

NICE and PHE have published draft guidance on antimicrobial prescribing for hospital-acquired and community-acquired pneumonia, setting out a strategy designed to optimise antibiotic use and cut down on antibiotic resistance. The guidelines advise that antibiotics should be given to people with community- and hospital-acquired pneumonia within four hours of an established diagnosis. NICE also provided

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NICE approves Keytruda, MSD’s lung cancer drug, to be used as routine treatment on the NHS

A green light has been given for lung cancer drug Keytruda by NICE for the treatment for certain patients in England. Merck, Sharp, and Dohme (MSD)’s Keytruda will be available for those with previously untreated metastatic nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), where tumours have specific protein and genetic markers. Keytruda is the first treatment

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NICE recommend Eisai’s lenvatinib for treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma

Eisai announced that NICE has given a positive recommendation for the use of lenvatinib in combination with everolimus to treat adults with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) following one prior vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-targeted therapy, if their Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status score is 0 or 1. The company also provides lenvatinib

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NICE disapproves Roche’s giant cell arteritis treatment, Roactemra, for use on the NHS

It is starting to look highly unlikely that patients with giant cell arteritis will gain NHS access to Roche’s Roactemra, due to the drug being turned down by cost regulators in draft guidelines. NICE’s appraisal committee has emphasised “substantial uncertainties” in the evidence on how long patients would have to take the treatment and what

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